Day: 18 May 2016

EXCLUSIVE:

David Watson, Labour Party fundraising coordinator for the Walthamstow constituency in northeast London, was suspended last week for unspecified “breaches of party rules.” The Jewish Chronicle – a Zionist weekly newspaper which has been a main cheerleader for the campaign branding Labour a hotbed of Jew-hatred – gave an “Exclusive” tag to its May 6 report alleging that Watson had been suspended because of antisemitic Facebook posts.

Both the JC and the local Waltham Forest Guardian newspaper quoted Labour MP Stella Creasy saying that “bigotry” is inconsistent with membership of “a party campaigning for social justice,” implying that this was relevant to Watson’s case.

Word in local Labour circles says it was the MP’s father Philip Creasy, Constituency Party secretary, who notified Watson of his suspension on May 9, three days after he was asked about it by a journalist from the Jewish Chronicle. How did they know?

Who has an interest in pillorying a secondary school teacher of modern languages with a long history of working with Greenpeace and the Campaign Against Arms Trade? David Watson is a man who prides himself on combating antisemitism among kids he teaches, getting them involved in projects run by organisations such as the Anne Frank Trust and Amnesty International. Might his friendship with Jewish anti-Zionists have played a role? Or his past visits to Israel and Palestine and association with Israeli and Palestinian anti-Occupation activists? Or was it merely the fact that when he was elected Walthamstow party fundraiser, he replaced Stella Creasy’s mother in the role? Witnesses present at the relevant Annual General Meeting say that the honourable member made no attempt to hide her displeasure at Watson’s election. Continue reading “Walthamstow Labour Party fundraiser suspended – who had it in for David Watson?”

ROYALL REPORT REACTION:  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jewish-led group asks – Where are the safe spaces for supporters of Palestine?

• Royall condones thought crime as a Labour Party disciplinary offence
• Report recommends partisan Zionist group should re-educate student Labour Clubs
• “Safe spaces” will exclude supporters of Palestine.

May 18 – Baroness Royall’s inquiry into allegations of antisemitism against Oxford University Labour Club (OULC) has found no institutional antisemitism and “at least one case of serious false allegations of antisemitism which was reported to the police”.

And yet it prescribes training for officers of all Labour Clubs by one of the Zionist organisations responsible for the false allegations – the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) – which has been orchestrating a campaign to brand Labour Party members and institutions as antisemitic. The JLM are campaigning to introduce thought crime into the Labour Party rules by explicitly making unexpressed opinions a disciplinary offence. The OULC has announced that it will affiliate to the JLM in the mistaken belief that it represents “the Jewish people.”

“Her reports recommend that Labour Clubs provide ‘a safe space in order to discuss and debate without discrimination,’ but this will only apply to supporters of Israel,” said Richard Kuper, a founder member of Jews for Justice for Palestinians. “Supporters of campaigns for justice for Palestine will be open to constant challenge and effectively, censorship.”

Baroness Royall does not pretend to be impartial in this matter. Immediately after release of her executive summary she wrote a fulsome defence of the JLM’s partisan position on its own website.

Her report summary – which holds back the factual information behind its main conclusions – recommends that the Labour Party should consider adopting a distorted version of a principle set out in the Macpherson Report so that, in line with JLM thinking that any “incident perceived as antisemitic by the victim or any other person” could lead to the suspension of the alleged perpetrator.

Since the JLM insists that antisemitic behaviour includes expressing hostility to Zionism, which they define controversially as the “basic expression of the national identity of the Jewish people”, no one criticising the ideological basis of the Israeli state will be safe from disciplinary action.

“The Royall report compounds a disturbing pattern that places antisemitism in the context of attitudes to Israel – not where it belongs in the context of racism and in particular fails to see antisemitism as linked to the far greater current danger of Islamophobia,” said Free Speech on Israel spokesman Mike Cushman. “It is shameful that the Oxford University Labour Club has been bullied into an alliance with the JLM, a highly partisan organisation, which is working to undermine freedom of political thought in the Labour Party.” Continue reading “Press Release: Reaction of Jewish led group to Baroness Royall Report recommendations”

Breaking the Silence is an Israeli human rights organisation for combatants who have served in the Israeli military since the start of the Second Intifada. It publishes the anonymous testimonies of soldiers in the occupied Palestinian territories. On Sunday, a court case against it will be heard. Breaking the Silence staff and its legal team say the legal moves not only pose a threat to the group but also threaten to ‘chill’ both free speech and human rights activism in Israel.

Magistrate’s Court Judge Eliana Danieli is to hear a petition by the state attorney that will use testimony or raw materials as evidence. The Guardian reports that it is ‘demanding that Breaking the Silence identify anonymous serving military personnel who have given it testimony relating to alleged crimes in the 2014 Gaza war.’ Writing in Haaretz, Amos Harel and Gili Cohen conclude that ‘such revelation will severely deter other soldiers from providing anonymous testimony. It is hard to escape the impression that this is precisely the state prosecutor’s long-term goal.’

The human right organisation has long been subject to attempts to silence them, including by the fascist movement Im Tirtzu and Israeli right-wing Ad Kan group. The latter is partially funded by the Samaria Settlers’ Committee, an extremist group that released a video portraying Breaking the Silence funders, NIF and other progressive organizations as a ‘hook-nosed Jew betraying Israel in exchange for European money.’ It also armed its members with hidden cameras in order to smear high-profile leftists, producing a report that was aired on Israeli Channel 2 in March, that Ad Kan said ‘revealed how Breaking the Silence, which claims to be a “human rights organization,” tried to gather classified intelligence about sensitive IDF operations along the Gaza border with Hamas.’

Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan of Jewish Home called the organization ‘a fifth column.’ While Israeli Knesset Speaker MK Yuli Edelstein of right-wing Likud warned in March that:

It’s time to say ‘enough’ to Breaking the Silence. As Speaker of the Knesset, I believe that the law enforcement authorities must investigate the matter and determine what sensitive information is in their hands and if, God forbid, they are making inappropriate use of it.

Not to be outdone, Israeli MK Eitan Cabel of the centre-left Zionist Union – which includes the Israeli Labour Party – said that:

the activities of Breaking the Silence, as revealed tonight, crossed a red line that should not be crossed. These are very serious findings which point to the systematic gathering of evidence against the army, against the state, against us. There is no choice but a police investigation.

Continue reading “Israel action against Breaking the Silence will have chilling effect on free speech”